Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data in wireless communication system

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are a method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data using Bluetooth Low Energy technology in a wireless communication system. The method includes: establishing a Bluetooth LE connection with at least one device; opening a control path for the at least one device; and transmitting a control message associated with audio streaming to the at least one device via the control path, the opening of a control path including: sending to the at least one device a registration request message for registering the first device as a remote controller; and receiving a response message from the at least one device as a response to the registration request message.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This non-provisional application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C.§119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/265,428, filed on Dec.10, 2015, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference into thepresent application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for connectingalternative communication means using Bluetooth, that is, a short-rangecommunication technology, in a wireless communication system and, moreparticularly, to a method and apparatus for providing the transmissionand reception of audio streams using a Bluetooth low energy (BLE)technology.

Related Art

Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that maywirelessly connect various types of devices and allows them to exchangedata over short distances. To enable wireless communication between twodevices using Bluetooth communication, a user has to perform the processof discovering Bluetooth devices to communicate with and making aconnection request. As used herein, the term “device” refers to anappliance or equipment.

In this case, the user may discover a Bluetooth device according to aBluetooth communication method intended to be used with the Bluetoothdevice using the Bluetooth device, and then perform a connection withthe Bluetooth device.

The Bluetooth communication method may be divided into as a BR/EDRmethod and an LE method. The BR/EDR method may be called a BluetoothClassic method. The Bluetooth Classic method includes a Bluetoothtechnology led from Bluetooth 1.0 and a Bluetooth technology using anenhanced data rate (EDR) supported by Bluetooth 2.0 or a subsequentversion.

A BLE technology applied, starting from Bluetooth 4.0, may stablyprovide information of hundreds of kilobytes (KB) at low powerconsumption. Such a BLE technology allows devices to exchangeinformation with each other using an attribute protocol. The BLE methodmay reduce energy consumption by reducing the overhead of a header andsimplifying the operation.

Some of the Bluetooth devices do not have a display or a user interface.The complexity of a connection, management, control, and a disconnectionbetween various Bluetooth devices and Bluetooth devices using similartechnologies is increasing.

Bluetooth supports a high speed at a relatively low cost with relativelylow power consumption. However, Bluetooth is appropriately used within alimited space because it has a maximum transmission distance of 100 m.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This specification is directed to a method of transmitting and receivingdata using Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) technology in a wirelesscommunication system.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a method in which afirst device transmits and receives data to and from a second device anda third device using Bluetooth Low Energy technology in a wirelesscommunication system, the second device being a device that transmits anaudio stream, and the third device being a device that receives theaudio stream, the method including: establishing a Bluetooth LEconnection with at least one device; opening a control path for the atleast one device; and transmitting a control message associated withaudio streaming to the at least one device via the control path, theopening of a control path including: sending to the at least one devicea registration request message for registering the first device as aremote controller; and receiving a response message from the at leastone device as a response to the registration request message.

In an embodiment, if the second device transmits the audio streamthrough broadcast, the at least one device may correspond to the thirddevice, the method further including receiving from the second device anadvertising message containing audio source information after theopening of a control path, wherein, in the transmitting of a controlmessage to the at least one device, the first device may transmit thecontrol message to the third device upon receiving the advertisingmessage, and the control message may be generated based on the audiosource information contained in the advertising message.

In an embodiment, the audio source information may include at least oneamong the audio stream's identification information, languageinformation, synchronization information, transport information, andcodec information.

In an embodiment, the establishing of a Bluetooth LE connection mayinclude establishing a Bluetooth LE connection with the second deviceand the third device, the opening of a control path may include openinga control path for the second device and the third device, and thetransmitting of a control message to the at least one message mayinclude: transmitting to the second device a first control messageassociated with the transmission of the audio stream; and transmittingto the third device a second control message associated with thereception of the audio stream, wherein the second control message may begenerated based on a response message received from the second device asa response to the first control message.

In an embodiment, the second control message may contain audio streamidentification for identifying the audio stream transmitted by thesecond device.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a first device whichtransmits and receives data to and from a second device and a thirddevice using Bluetooth Low Energy technology, the second device being adevice that transmits an audio stream, and the third device being adevice that receives the audio stream, the first device including: acommunication part for communicating with the outside in a wired orwireless manner; and a processor functionally connected to thecommunication part, wherein the processor may establish a Bluetooth LEconnection with at least one device, open a control path for the atleast one device, and transmit a control message associated with audiostreaming to the at least one device via the control path, the openingof a control path including: sending to the at least one device aregistration request message for registering the first device as aremote controller; and receiving a response message from the at leastone device as a response to the registration request message.

Technical objects to be achieved in this specification are not limitedto the aforementioned objects, and those skilled in the art to which thepresent invention pertains may evidently understand other technicalobjects from the following description.

Advantages which may be obtained in this specification are not limitedto the aforementioned advantages, and various other advantages may beevidently understood by those skilled in the art to which the presentinvention pertains from the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows an example of a wireless communication system using a BLEtechnology according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an example of an internal block diagram of a server deviceand a client device capable of implementing methods according toembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a BLE network topology.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show examples of Bluetooth communication architecture towhich methods according to embodiments of the present invention may beapplied.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the GATT Profile structure of the BLEspecification.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a method for the connection procedure of theBLE specification.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for providingan object transfer service according to the BLE technology.

FIG. 9 illustrates the characteristics of an audio signal.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a protocol stack of BLE which may use anisochronous channel.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a home ecosystem for applications to whichan isochronous channel may be applied.

FIG. 12 shows an example of the type of an isochronous channel.

FIG. 13 shows an example of an operating state transition according tothe BLE technology.

FIG. 14 shows various examples of isochronous stream transfer through anisochronous channel.

FIGS. 15 and 16 illustrate another example of a data transfer methodusing an isochronous channel.

FIG. 17 shows examples of an isochronous channel packet format which maybe applied to methods according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating audio entities for audio transmissionaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 shows physical topologies of audio entities according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 shows multiplicity topologies of audio entities according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 shows client-server interactions within audio entities accordingto one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a table of definitions of service/client characteristicsaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 shows service usage architectures in respective entitiesaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for sendingand receiving audio streams through an LE connection to which a methodproposed in this specification may be applied.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a method forsending and receiving audio streams through an LE connection to which amethod proposed in this specification may be applied.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating a method of establishing a BLEconnection according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing a method of registering an audiocontroller according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing a method of deregistering an audiocontroller according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29 shows a codec and transport negotiation procedure according toone embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 30 shows an audio stream provision method according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 31 shows an audio stream provision method according to anotherembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 32 shows a table of access levels to an audio controller accordingto one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 33 is a conceptual diagram showing access from an audio controllerto an audio source or audio sink according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 34 is a table showing exclusive or non-exclusive access from anaudio controller to an audio source or audio sink according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 35 shows a method of transmitting and receiving data according toone embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, the present invention is described in more detail withreference to appended drawings.

A suffix, such as “module” and “unit” introduced in the descriptionherein, is assigned merely to facilitate description of this document,and the “module” and “unit” may be used interchangeably.

In this document, a device refers to a device capable of wirelesscommunication, including a mobile phone, such as a smart phone, a tabletPC, a desktop computer, a notebook, and television, such as smart TV andIPTV.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention are described indetail with reference to the accompanying drawings and descriptioncontained in the drawings, but the technical scope of the presentinvention is not restricted by the embodiments.

Wherever possible, general terms widely known to the public have beenchosen as long as the terms do not obscure their technical functionsintended in the present invention; however, those terms may be changeddepending on the intention of those skilled in the art, practices, orthe advent of a new technology.

In some cases, specific terms are chosen arbitrarily; in that case, aspecific meaning of a corresponding term is described in a correspondingdescription.

Therefore, the terms used in this document should be interpreted on thebasis of their actual meanings and description throughout the documentrather than the immediate names of the terms.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a wireless communication system using a BLEtechnology according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The wireless communication system 100 includes at least one serverdevice 110 and at least one client device 120.

The server device and the client device perform Bluetooth communicationusing Bluetooth low energy (hereinafter referred to as “BLE”, forconvenience sake) technology.

First, compared to a Bluetooth basic rate/enhanced data rate (BR/EDR)technology, the BLE technology requires a relatively small duty cycle.Products based on the BLE technology may be manufactured at a low cost,and may require very small power consumption at a low speed datatransfer rate. The products may operate more than one year with a coincell battery.

Furthermore, the BLE technology simplifies a connection procedurebetween devices and requires a smaller packet size than the BluetoothBR/EDR technology.

Features of the BLE technology may be summarized as follows: (1) thenumber of RF channels is 40, (2) a data transfer rate of 1 Mbps issupported, (3) a star topology is used, (4) latency is 3 ms, (5) amaximum current is less than 15 mA, (6) output power is less than 10 mW(10 dBm), and (7) major application fields include mobile phones, watch,sports, health-care, sensor, and device control.

The server device 110 may operate as a client device in a relationshipwith a different device. Likewise, the client device may operate as aserver device in a relationship with a different device. In other words,in a BLE communication system, a device may operate as a server deviceor a client device. In some cases, a device may operate as a serverdevice and a client device at the same time.

The server device 110 may be called a data service device, masterdevice, master, server, conductor, host device, audio source device, orfirst device. The client device may be called a slave device, slave,client, member, sink device, audio sink device, or second device.

The server device and the client device form a main part of a wirelesscommunication system, and the wireless communication system may includeother elements in addition to the server device and the client device.

The server device refers to a device which receives data from a client,directly performs communication with the client device. When receiving adata request from the client device, the server device provides data tothe client device through a response.

Furthermore, the server device sends a notification message andindication message to the client device to provide information to theclient device. Furthermore, when transmitting an indication message tothe client device, the server device receives a confirm messagecorresponding to the indication message from the client device.

Furthermore, the server device may provide information to the userthrough a display unit or receive a request input from the user througha user input interface while transmitting and receiving notification,indication, and confirm messages to and from the client device.

Furthermore, the server device may read data from a memory unit or writenew data to the corresponding memory while transmitting and receivingmessages to and from the client device.

Furthermore, one server device may be connected to a plurality of clientdevices and may be easily connected to client devices again usingbonding information.

The client device 120 refers to a device which requests information anddata transmission from a server device.

The client device receives data from the server device through anotification message and indication message. When receiving anindication message from the server device, the client device sends aconfirm message to the server device.

Like the server device, the client device may provide information to auser through a display unit or may receive an input from the userthrough a user input interface while transmitting and receiving messagesto and from the server device.

Furthermore, the client device may read data from the memory unit orwrite new data into the memory unit while transmitting and receivingmessages to and from the server device.

Hardware components, such as the display unit, user input interface, andmemory unit of the server device or client device, are described indetail with reference to FIG. 2.

Furthermore, the wireless communication system may form a personal areanetwork (PAN) using a Bluetooth technology. For example, the wirelesscommunication system may exchange files and documents in a prompt andsafe manner by forming a private piconet among devices.

A BLE device may operate in order to support various Bluetooth-relatedprotocols, profiles, and processes.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the internal block diagram of a server deviceand client device capable of implementing methods according toembodiments of the present invention.

The server device may be connected to at least one client device.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, the internal block diagram of eachdevice may further include other elements (or modules, blocks or units),and some of the elements of FIG. 2 may be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the server device includes a display unit 111, auser input interface 112, a power supply unit 113, a processor (orcontroller) 114, a memory unit 115, a Bluetooth interface 116, anotherinterface 117, and a communication unit (or transmission/reception unit)118.

The display unit 111, user input interface 112, power supply unit 113,processor 114, memory unit 115, Bluetooth interface 116, anotherinterface 117, and communication unit 118 are functionallyinterconnected so as to perform a method according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

Furthermore, the client device includes a display unit 121, a user inputinterface 122, a power supply unit 123, a processor 124, a memory unit125, a Bluetooth interface 126, and a communication unit (ortransmission/reception unit) 127.

The display unit 121, user input interface 122, power supply unit 123,processor 124, memory unit 125, Bluetooth interface 126, andcommunication unit 127 are functionally interconnected so as to performa method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The Bluetooth interface 116, 126 refers to a unit (or module) capable oftransmitting a request/response, command, notification,indication/confirm message, or data between devices using the Bluetoothtechnology.

The memory 115, 125 is implemented in various types of devices andrefers to a unit in which various data is stored.

The processor 114, 124 refers to a module for controlling an overalloperation of the server device or the client device, and controls theserver device or the client device in order in order to request thetransmission of a message through the Bluetooth interface or otherinterface and to process a received message.

The processor 114, 124 may be represented by a controller or a controlunit.

The processor 114, 124 may include application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), other chipsets, logical circuits and/or dataprocessing devices.

The memory 115, 125 may include read-only memory (ROM), random accessmemory (RAM), flash memory, a memory card, a storage medium and/or otherstorage devices.

The communication unit 118, 127 may include a baseband circuit forprocessing a radio signal. If an embodiment is implemented in the formof software, the aforementioned method may be implemented by a module(process or function) which performs the aforementioned function. Themodule is stored in the memory and is performed by the processor.

The memory 115, 125 may be installed inside or outside the processor114, 124 and may be connected to the processor 114, 124 through variouswell-known means.

The display unit 111, 121 refers to a module for providing statusinformation about a device and message exchange information to a userthrough a display.

The power supply unit 113, 123 refers to a module for receiving externalor internal power under the control of the controller and for supplyingpower for the operation of each element.

As described above, BLE technology is characterized by a small dutycycle, and considerably reduces power consumption at a low data transferrate. Accordingly, the BLE technology is capable of supplying power forthe operation of each element even with small output power (which isless than 10 mW (10 dBm)).

The user input interface 112, 122 refers to a module for providing auser input, such as a display button to the controller, so that the usermay control the operation of a device.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a BLE network topology.

Referring to FIG. 3, a device A corresponds to a piconet (piconet A, theshaded area) master having a device B and a device C as slaves.

In this case, a piconet refers to a set of devices in which one of aplurality of devices functions as a master and the others occupy ashared physical channel connected to the master device.

A BLE slave does not share a common physical channel with a master. Eachslave communicates with a master through a separate physical channel.There is another piconet (piconet F) including a master device F and aslave device G.

A device K belongs to a scatternet K. In this case, the scatternetrefers to a group of piconets interconnected to each other.

A device K is the master of a device L and also a slave of a device M.

A device O also belongs to a scatternet O. The device O is a slave of adevice P and also a slave of a device Q.

FIG. 3 illustrates a case where five different device groups are formed.

A device D is an advertiser, and a device A is an initiator (group D).

A device E is a scanner, and a device C is an advertiser (group C).

A device H is an advertiser, and a device I and a device J are scanners(group H).

The device K is also an advertiser, and a device N is an initiator(group K).

A device R is an advertiser, and the device O is an initiator (group R).

The device A and the device B use one BLE piconet physical channel.

The device A and the device C use another BLE piconet physical channel.

In the group D, the device D performs advertising using an advertisementevent which may be connected to an advertising physical channel, and thedevice A is an initiator. The device A may establish a connection to thedevice D and add a device to the piconet A.

In the group C, the device C performs advertising through an advertisingphysical channel using a certain type of an advertisement event capturedby the scanner device E.

The group D and the group C may use different advertising physicalchannels or different time frames so as to avoid a collision.

The piconet F has one physical channel. The device F and the device Guse a single BLE piconet physical channel. The device F is a master, andthe device G is a slave.

The group H has one physical channel. The devices H, I, and J use oneBLE advertising physical channel. The device H is an advertiser, and thedevices I and J are scanners.

In the scatternet K, the devices K and L use a single BLE piconetphysical channel. The devices K and M use another BLE piconet physicalchannel.

In the group K, the device K performs advertising using an advertisementevent which may be connected to an advertising physical channel, and thedevice N is an initiator. The device N may establish a connection withthe device K. In this case, the device K functions as a slave of twodevices and also as a master of one device.

In the scatternet O, the devices O and P use a single BLE piconetphysical channel. The devices O and Q use different BLE piconet physicalchannels.

In the group R, the device R performs advertising using an advertisementevent which may be connected to an advertising physical channel, and thedevice O is an initiator. The device O may establish a connection withthe device R. In this case, the device O functions as a slave of twodevices and also a master of one device.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate an example of Bluetooth communicationarchitecture to which methods according to embodiments of the presentinvention may be applied.

More specifically, FIG. 4 shows an example of the Bluetooth BR/EDRtechnology, and FIG. 5 shows an example of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)architecture.

First, as shown in FIG. 4, the Bluetooth BR/EDR architecture includes acontroller stack 410, a host controller interface (HCI) 420, and a hoststack 430.

The controller stack 410 (or controller module) refers to hardware forsending or receiving Bluetooth packets to and from a wirelesstransmission and reception module dealing with Bluetooth signals of 2.4GHz. The controller stack 410 includes a BR/EDR Radio layer 411, aBR/EDR Baseband layer 412, and a BR/EDR Link Manager layer 413.

The BR/EDR Radio layer 411 sends and receives radio signals of 2.4 GHz,and is capable of transmitting data by hopping 79 RF channels whenGaussian frequency shift keying (GFSK) modulation is used.

The BR/EDR baseband layer 412 sends a digital signal, selects a channelsequence in which hopping is performed 1600 times per second, and sendstime slot spanning of 625 us for each channel.

The link manager layer 413 controls an overall operation of BLE, such aslink setup, control, and security, using a link manager protocol (LMP).

The link manager layer 413 may perform the following functions.

-   -   Control of ACL/SCO logical transport and logical link setup    -   Detach: removes a connection and informs a corresponding device        of a cause of removal.    -   Performs power control and role switch    -   Performs a security function, such as authentication, pairing,        and encryption.

The host controller interface layer 420 provides an interface between ahost module 430 and a controller module 410 so that a host may provide acommand and data to a controller and the controller may provide an eventand data to the host.

The host stack (or host module) 430 includes a logical link control andadaptation protocol (L2CAP) 437, a service discovery protocol (SDP) 433,a BR/EDR protocol 432, BR/EDR profiles 431, an attribute protocol 436, ageneric access profile (GAP) 434, and a generic attribute profile (GATT)435.

The L2CAP 437 provides one bilateral channel for sending data accordingto a specific protocol or specific profile.

The L2CAP multiplexes various protocols and profiles provided byBluetooth upper layers.

The L2CAP of the Bluetooth BR/EDR specification uses a dynamic channel;supports a protocol service multiplexer, retransmission, and streamingmode, and provides segmentation and reassembly, per-channel flowcontrol, and error control.

The SDP 433 refers to a protocol used to search for a service (or aprofile and protocol) supported by a Bluetooth service.

The BR/EDR protocols and profiles 432, 431 define a service using theBluetooth BR/EDR specification and an application protocol by which anexchange of data is performed.

The attribute protocol 436 relies on a server-client structure, whichdefines a rule for a corresponding device so as to access data. Sixmessage types are defined as below: a Request message, a Responsemessage, a Command message, a Notification message, and an Indicationmessage.

-   -   Request message from a client to a server with a Response        message from a server to a client    -   Command message from a client to a server without a Response        message    -   Notification message from a server to a client without a Confirm        message    -   Indication message from a server to a client with a Confirm        message from a client to a server

The GATT 435 defines an attribute type.

The GAP 434 defines a method for discovering and connecting a device,and a method for providing information to a user. The GAP provides aprivacy scheme.

As shown in FIG. 5, the BLE structure includes a controller stackcapable of processing a wireless device interface for which timing iscritical and a host stack capable of processing high level data.

The controller stack may also be called a controller. In order to avoidconfusion with the processor, that is, an internal element of the devicedescribed with reference to FIG. 2, however, the controller stack may bepreferably used below.

First, the controller stack may be implemented using a communicationmodule which may include a Bluetooth wireless device and a processormodule which may include a processing device, such as a microprocessor.

The host stack may be implemented as part of an OS operating on theprocessor module or as a package instance on an OS.

In some cases, the controller stack and the host stack may operate ormay be performed on the same processing device within the processormodule.

The host stack includes a generic access profile (GAP) 510, GATT basedprofiles 520, a generic attribute profile (GATT) 530, an attributeprotocol (ATT) 540, a security manager (SM) 550, and a logical linkcontrol and adaptation protocol (L2CAP) 560. The host stack is notlimited to the aforementioned composition, but may include variousprotocols and profiles.

The host stack multiplexes various protocols and profiles provided bythat Bluetooth specification using the L2CAP.

First, the L2CAP 560 provides one bilateral channel for sending data toaccording to a specific protocol or specific profile.

The L2CAP is capable of multiplexing data between upper layer protocols,segmenting or reassembling packages, and managing multicast datatransmission.

BLE uses three fixed channels for respective signaling, a securitymanager, and an attribute protocol.

BR/EDR uses a dynamic channel and supports a protocol servicemultiplexer, retransmission, streaming mode.

The SM 550 authenticates a device, which is a protocol for providing akey distribution.

The ATT 540 relies on a server-client structure, which defines rules fora corresponding device for data access. Six message types are defined:Request, Response, Command, Notification, Indication, and Confirmation.

{circle around (1)} Request and Response message: the Request message isused when a client device requests specific information from a serverdevice, and the Response message is used in response to a Requestmessage, which is transmitted from the server device to the clientdevice.

{circle around (2)} Command message: The Command message is transmittedfrom a client device to a server device in order to indicate a commandfor a specific operation, but the server device does not send a responseto a Command message to the client device.

{circle around (3)} Notification message: A server device sends thismessage to a client device in order to provide notification of an event,but the client device does not send a confirmation message to the serverdevice in response to a Notification message.

{circle around (4)} Indication and Confirm message: A server devicesends this message to a client device in order to provide notificationof an event. Unlike in the Notification message, the client device sendsa Confirm message to the server device in response to an Indicationmessage.

The GAP is a layer newly implemented to support the BLE technology, andis used to control the selection of a role for communication between BLEdevices and a multi-profile operation.

The GAP is mainly used for device discovery, connection establishment,and security. That is, the GAP defines a method for providinginformation to a user and also defines the following attribute types.

{circle around (1)} Service: A combination of actions related to data,and it defines the basic operation of a device.

{circle around (2)} Include: Define a relationship between services.

{circle around (3)} Characteristics: A data value used by a service

{circle around (4)} Behavior: A format that may be readable by acomputer, which is defined by a Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) and avalue type.

The GATT-based profiles are dependent on the GATT and are mainly appliedto BLE devices. The GATT-based profiles may include Battery, Time,FindMe, Proximity, Object Delivery Service and so on. More specificdescriptions of the GATT-based profiles are as follows.

Battery: A method for exchanging battery information.

Time: A method for exchanging time information.

FindMe: It provides an alarm service according to the distance.

Proximity: A method for exchanging battery information.

The GATT may be used as a protocol by which to describe how the ATT isutilized at the time of composing services. For example, the GATT may beused to define how the ATT profiles are grouped together with servicesand to describe characteristics associated with the services.

Therefore, the GATT and the ATT describe device statuses and services,and how features are associated with each other and how they are used.

The controller stack includes a physical layer 590, a link layer 580,and a host controller interface 570.

The physical layer 590 (or a wireless transmission and reception module)sends and receives radio signals of 2.4 GHz, and uses GFSK modulationand frequency hopping utilizing 40 RF channels.

The link layer 580 sends or receives Bluetooth packets.

Furthermore, the link layer establishes a connection between devicesafter performing the advertising and scanning function using threeadvertising channels, and provides a function of exchanging a maximum of42 bytes of data packets through 37 data channels.

The host controller interface (HCI) provides an interface between thehost stack and the controller stack so that the host stack may providecommands and data to the controller stack and the controller stack mayprovide events and data to the host stack.

Hereinafter, the procedure of BLE is described briefly.

The BLE procedure includes a device filtering procedure, an advertisingprocedure, a scanning procedure, a discovering procedure, and aconnecting procedure.

Device Filtering Procedure

The device filtering procedure functions to reduce the number of deviceswhich perform responses to requests, commands, or notification in thecontroller stack.

All of devices may not need to respond to received requests.Accordingly, the controller stack reduces the number of transmittedrequests so that power consumption can be reduced in the BLE controllerstack.

An advertising device or a scanning device may perform the devicefiltering procedure in order to restrict the number of devices whichreceive advertisement packets, scan requests, or connection requests.

In this case, the advertising device refers to a device which sends anadvertisement event, that is, a device which performs advertisement, andis also called an advertiser.

A scanning device refers to a device which performs scanning, that is, adevice which sends a scan request.

In the BLE specification, if a scanning device receives part ofadvertisement packets from an advertising device, the scanning devicehas to send a scan request to the advertising device.

If the transmission of a scan request is not required as the devicefiltering procedure is used, however, the scanning device may ignoreadvertisement packets transmitted by an advertising device.

The device filtering procedure may be used even in the connectionrequest procedure. If device filtering is used for the connectionrequest procedure, the need for sending a response to a connectionrequest may be made unnecessary by ignoring the connection request.

Advertising Procedure

An advertising device performs an advertisement procedure to performnon-directional broadcast using the devices within the range of theadvertising device.

In this case, the non-directional broadcast refers to broadcast in alldirections rather than broadcast in specific directions.

Unlike the non-directional broadcast, the directional broadcast refersto broadcast in a specific direction. Non-directional broadcast isperformed without involving a connection procedure between devices in alistening state (hereinafter referred to as a “listening device”).

The advertising procedure is used to establish a BLE to a nearbyinitiating device.

In some embodiments, the advertising procedure may be used to providethe periodic broadcast of user data to scanning devices which performlistening through an advertising channel.

In the advertising procedure, all of advertisements (or advertisementevents) are broadcasted through an advertising physical channel.

An advertising device may receive a scan request from a listening devicewhich performs a listening operation in order to obtain additional userdata from the advertising device. In response to the scan request, theadvertising device sends a response to the listening device which hassent the scan request through the same advertising physical channelthrough which the advertising device has received the scan request.

While broadcast user data sent as part of advertising packets formsdynamic data, scan response data is static for the most part.

An advertising device may receive a connection request from aninitiating device through an advertising (or broadcast) physicalchannel. If the advertising device has used a connectable advertisementevent and the initiating device has not been filtered by a filteringprocedure, the advertising device stops an advertisement and entersconnected mode. The advertising device may resume the advertisementafter entering the connected mode.

Scanning Procedure

A device performing a scan operation, that is, a scanning device,performs a scanning procedure in order to listen to the non-directionalbroadcast of user data from advertising devices which use an advertisingphysical channel.

In order to request additional user data, a scanning device sends a scanrequest to an advertising device through an advertising physicalchannel. In response to the scan request, the advertising deviceincludes additional user data requested by the scanning device in a scanresponse and sends the scan response to the scanning device through theadvertising physical channel.

The scanning procedure may be used while a scanning device is connectedto another BLE device in a BLE piconet.

If a scanning device receives a broadcast advertising event and stays ininitiator mode where a connection request may be initiated, the scanningdevice may initiate BLE for an advertising device by sending aconnection request to the advertising device through an advertisingphysical channel.

If a scanning device sends a connection request to an advertisingdevice, the scanning device stops the entire scanning for additionalbroadcast and enters connected mode.

Discovering Procedure

Devices capable of Bluetooth communication (hereinafter referred to as“Bluetooth devices”) perform an advertising procedure and a scanningprocedure in order to discover devices around the Bluetooth devices ordevices to be discovered by other devices within a given area.

The discovering procedure is performed in an asymmetric manner. ABluetooth device searching for another Bluetooth device nearby is calleda discovering device, and performs listening in order to search fordevices that advertise advertisement events that may be scanned. ABluetooth device which may be discovered and used by another device iscalled a discoverable device. A discoverable device actively broadcastsan advertisement event so that other devices can scan the discoverabledevice through an advertising (or broadcast) physical channel.

Both of the discovering device and the discoverable device may alreadyhave been connected to other Bluetooth devices in a piconet.

Connecting Procedure

A connecting procedure is asymmetric. In the connecting procedure, whilea particular Bluetooth device performs an advertising procedure, otherBluetooth devices need to perform a scanning procedure.

In other words, the advertising procedure may be a primary task to beperformed, and as a result, only one device may respond to anadvertisement. After receiving a connectable advertisement event from anadvertising device, the connecting procedure may be initiated by sendinga connection request to the advertising device through an advertising(or broadcast) physical channel.

Operation statuses defined in the BLE technology, that is, anadvertising state, a scanning state, an initiating state, and aconnection state, are described briefly below.

Advertising State

The link layer (LL) enters the advertising state in a command from ahost (or stack). If the link layer is in the advertising state, the linklayer sends advertising packet data units (PDUs) from advertisementevents.

Each advertisement event includes at least one advertising PDU, and theadvertising PDU is transmitted through an advertising channel index.Each advertisement event may be previously closed if the advertising PDUis transmitted through each advertising channel index, the advertisingPDU is terminated, or the advertising device needs to secure the spacein order to perform other functions.

Scanning State

The link layer enters the scanning state in response to a command from ahost (or stack). In the scanning state, the link layer listens toadvertising channel indices.

The scanning state supports two types: passive and active scanning. Thehost determines a scanning type.

No separate time or advertising channel index is defined to performscanning.

In the scanning state, the link layer listens to an advertising channelindex for “scanWindow” duration. scanInterval is defined as the intervalbetween the start points of two consecutive scan windows.

If there is no scheduling collision, the link layer has to performlistening in order to complete all of the scanIntervals of scanWindowsas commanded by the host. In each scanWindow, the link layer has to scanother advertising channel indices. The link layer uses all of availableadvertising channel indices.

In the case of passive scanning, the link layer is unable to send anypacket, but only receives packets.

In the case of active scanning, the link layer performs listening to theadvertising device to rely on the advertising PDU type by whichadditional information related to the advertising PDUs and advertisingdevice may be requested.

Initiating State

The link layer enters the initiating state in response to a command froma host (or stack).

In the initiating state, the link layer performs listening toadvertising channel indices.

In the initiating state, the link layer listens to an advertisingchannel index for “scanWindow” duration.

Connection State

The link layer enters the connection state when a device makes aconnection request, that is, an initiating device sends a CONNECT_REQPDU to an advertising device or the advertising device receives aCONNECT_REQ PDU from the initiating device.

Establishing a connection may be taken into consideration after the linklayer enters the connection state. However, establishing a connectionwhen the link layer enters the connection state may not need to be takeninto consideration. The only difference between a newly createdconnection and an existing connection is a supervision timeout value fora link layer connection.

When two devices are connected to each other, they play respectivedifferent roles.

A link layer playing the role of a master is called a master device,whereas a link layer playing the role of a slave is called a slavedevice. A master device adjusts timing of a connection event. In thiscase, the connection event denotes the time when the mast device and aslave device are synchronized.

A master device (or central device) is a device that periodically scansa connectable advertising signal in order to establish a connection withother devices (slave or peripheral devices), and requests an appropriatedevice to establish a connection.

Furthermore, once connected to a slave device, a master device sets uptiming and supervises a periodic data exchange.

In this case, the timing may be a hopping rule applied to two deviceswhich exchange data through the same channel.

A slave (or peripheral) device is a device that periodically sends aconnectable advertising signal in order to establish a connection withother devices (master devices).

Therefore, if a master device which has received a connectableadvertising signal sends a connection request, a slave device acceptsthe request and establishes a connection with the master device.

After a slave device establishes a connection with a master device, theslave device periodically exchanges data by hopping a channel accordingto timing specified by the master device.

The packets defined in the Bluetooth interface is described brieflybelow. BLE devices use the packets described below.

Packet Format

The link layer has only one packet format used for both an advertisingchannel packet and a data channel packet.

Each of the packets includes four fields: a preamble, an access address,a PDU, and CRC.

If one packet is transmitted through an advertising physical channel,the PDU may function as an advertising channel PDU. If one packet istransmitted through a data physical channel, the PDU may function as adata channel PDU.

Advertising Channel PDU

The advertising channel PDU includes a 16 bit header and a payload ofvarious sizes.

The PDU type filed of an advertising channel included in the headersupports PDU types defined in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1 PDU Type Packet Name 0000 ADV_IND 0001 ADV_DIRECT_IND 0010ADV_NONCONN_IND 0011 SCAN_REQ 0100 SCAN_RSP 0101 CONNECT_REQ 0110ADV_SCAN_IND 0111-1111 Reserved

Advertising PDU

The following advertising channel PDU types are called advertising PDUsand are used for specific events.

ADV_IND: a connectable non-directional advertisement event

ADV_DIREC_IND: a connectable directional advertisement event

ADV_NONCONN_IND: a non-connectable non-directional advertisement event

ADV_SCAN_IND: a non-directional advertisement event that may be scanned

The PDUs are transmitted by the link layer in the advertising state andare received by the link layer in the scanning state or initiatingstate.

Scanning PDUs

The advertising channel PDU type below is called a scanning PDU and isused in the status described below.

SCAN_REQ: transmitted by the link layer in the scanning state andreceived by the link layer in the advertising state.

SCAN_RSP: transmitted by the link layer in the advertising state andreceived by the link layer in the scanning state.

Initiating PDUs

The advertising channel PDU type below is called an initiating PDU.

CONNECT_REQ: transmitted by the link layer in the initiating state andreceived by the link layer in the advertising state.

Data Channel PDUs

The data channel PDU includes a 16 bit header and a payload of varioussizes, and may include a Message Integrity Check (MIC) field.

The procedures, statuses, and packet formats of the BLE technologydescribed above may be applied to perform methods according toembodiments of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the connection procedure defined in the BLE technology isdescribed briefly. As an example of the connection procedure, a methodfor providing an object transmission service according to the BLEspecification is described.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the GATT Profile structure of the BLEspecification.

Referring to FIG. 6, one may see the structure for exchanging profiledata defined in the BLE specification.

More specifically, the GATT defines a method for exchanging data using aservice between BLE devices and characteristics thereof.

In general, a peripheral device (e.g., a sensor device) functions as aGATT server and performs the definition for the service andcharacteristics.

To read or write data, a GATT client sends a data request to the GATTserver, initiates all of the transactions, and receives a response fromthe GATT server.

The GATT-based operational structure defined in the BLE is based onprofiles, services, and characteristics, which form a hierarchicalstructure as shown in FIG. 6.

The profile may include one or more services, and the one or moreservices may include one or more characteristics or other services.

The service groups data into logical units and includes one or morecharacteristics or other services.

Each of the services has the identifier of 16 bits or 128 bits, which iscalled a universal unique identifier (UUID).

The characteristic forms the lowest unit in the GATT-based operationalstructure. The characteristic includes only one datum and has a UUID of16 bits or 128 bits like the service.

The characteristic includes descriptors for various types of informationand requires one attribute to describe each piece of information. Thecharacteristic may use a couple of consecutive attributes.

The attribute includes four elements as follows.

-   -   Handle: the address of the attribute    -   Type: the type of the attribute    -   Value: the value of the attribute    -   Permission: an access right to the attribute

A connection procedure in BLE is described below. For example, a methodfor providing an object transfer service according to the BLE isdescribed as the connection procedure.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a method for the connection procedure of theBLE specification.

A server sends an advertisement message through three advertisementchannels (S7010).

The server may be called an advertiser before a connection isestablished and may be called a master after the connection isestablished. Examples of the server include sensors (e.g., temperaturesensors).

Furthermore, the client may be called a scanner before a connection isestablished and may be called a slave after the connection isestablished. The client may be a smart phone, for example.

As described above, Bluetooth communication uses a total of 40 channelsthrough a frequency of 2.4 GHz. Three of the 40 channels areadvertisement channels, which are used for exchanging packets toestablish a connection in addition to various advertising packets.

The remaining 37 channels are data channels which are used for theexchange of data packets after a connection is established.

After receiving the advertisement message, the client may send a scanrequest to the server in order to obtain additional data (e.g., a serverdevice name) from the server.

The server sends a scan response, together with the remaining data, tothe client in response to the scan request.

In this case, the scan request and the scan response are one type of anadvertisement packet which may include only user data of 31 bytes orless.

Therefore, if a data size is larger than 31 bytes, but with largeoverhead from established connection to send data, the data is dividedinto two blocks and transmitted twice using the scan request/scanresponse.

Next, the client sends, to the server, a connection request forestablishing BLE with the server (S7020).

Accordingly, a link layer (LL) connection is established between theserver and the client.

Thereafter, the server and the client perform a security establishmentprocedure.

The security establishment procedure may be construed as secure simplepairing or may be performed with the secure simple pairing beingincluded therein.

In other words, the security establishment procedure may be performedthrough a phase 1 to a phase 3.

More specifically, a pairing procedure (i.e., the phase 1) is performedbetween the server and the client (S7030).

Through the pairing procedure, the client sends a pairing request to theserver, and the server sends a pairing response to the client.

In the phase 2, a legacy pairing or secure connection is performedbetween the server and the client (S7040).

In the SSP phase 3, a key distribution procedure is performed betweenthe server and the client (S7050).

Through the phases, a secure connection is established between theserver and the client, and encrypted data may be transmitted andreceived.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for providingan object transfer service according to the BLE technology.

An object delivery service or object transfer service refers to aservice supported by BLE in order to transmit/receive an object, such asbulk data or data, in Bluetooth communication.

In order to establish BLE between a server device and a client device,the advertisement process and the scanning process corresponding tosteps S810 to S830 are performed.

First, the server device sends an advertisement message to the clientdevice in order to notify the client device of information relatedincluding an object transfer service (S8010).

The advertisement message may be represented as an advertisement packetdata unit (PDU), an advertisement packet, an advertisement, anadvertisement frame, or an advertisement physical channel PDU.

The advertisement message may include service information (including aservice name) provided by the server device, the name of the serverdevice, and manufacturer information.

Furthermore, the advertisement message may be transmitted to the clientdevice according to the broadcast or unicast scheme.

Thereafter, the client device sends a scan request message to the serverdevice to find detailed information related to the server device(S8020).

The scan request message may be represented as a scanning PDU, a scanrequest PDU, a scan request, a scan request frame, or a scan requestpacket.

The server device sends a scan response message to the client device inresponse to the scan request message received from the client device(S8030).

The scan response message includes server device-related informationrequested by the client device. In this case, the server device-relatedinformation may be an object or data that may be transmitted by theserver device in association with the provision of the object transferservice.

When the advertisement process and the scanning process are terminated,the server device and the client device perform an initiating connectionprocess and a data exchange process corresponding to steps S8040 toS8070.

More specifically, the client device sends a connection request messageto the server device in order to establish a Bluetooth communicationconnection with the server device (S8040).

The connection request message may be represented as a connectionrequest PDU, an initiation PDU, a connection request frame, or aconnection request.

Through step S8040, BLE is established between the server device and theclient device. Next, the server device and the client device exchangedata. During the data exchange process, the data may be transmitted andreceived through the data channel PDU.

The client device sends an object data request to the server devicethrough the data channel PDU (S8050). The data channel PDU may berepresented as a data request message or a data request frame.

Thereafter, the server device sends object data, requested by the clientdevice, to the client device through the data channel PDU (S8060).

In this case, the data channel PDU is used to provide data to acorresponding device or to request information according to the schemedefined in the attribute protocol.

If data is changed in the server device, the server device sends datachanged indication information to the client device through the datachannel PDU in order to notify the client device of a change of the dataor object (S8070).

Next, the client device requests changed object information from theserver device in order to search for the changed data or changed object(S8080).

Next, the server device sends changed object information to the clientdevice in response to the request for the changed object information(S8090).

Next, the client device searches for the changed object through acomparative analysis of the received changed object information and theobject information owned by the client device.

However, the client device repeatedly performs steps S880 and S890 untilthe changed object or data are retrieved.

If the connected state between the host device and the client device nolonger needs to be maintained, the host device or the client device maydisconnect the connected state.

Overview of Isochronous Channel

FIG. 9 shows characteristics of an audio signal.

As shown in FIG. 9, in the case of an audio signal, audio streaming dataor audio data is periodically generated at an idle event interval.

Audio data is generated periodically (or at a specific time interval)according to the characteristics thereof.

In this case, the specific time interval during which audio data isperiodically generated may be represented as an idle event interval.

Audio data is transmitted at an individual idle event interval.

Furthermore, individual audio data may be transmitted throughout part ofor the entire event interval.

As shown in FIG. 9, when audio streaming data generated periodically orregularly is transmitted according to the BLE mechanism, anadvertisement and scanning procedure, a communication procedure, and adisconnection procedure have to be performed whenever the generatedaudio data is transmitted or received.

As shown in FIG. 9, however, since audio data is generated at a regularinterval for most cases, latency needs to be guaranteed with respect tothe transmission of the audio data regardless of the amount of the audiodata.

If the advertisement and scanning procedure, the communicationprocedure, and the disconnection procedure are performed whenever newlygenerated audio data is transmitted, however, a latency problem occursduring the transmission of the audio data.

If the BLE technology rather than the Bluetooth BE/EDR technology isused, high energy efficiency can be achieved because a relatively smallamount of audio data is transmitted through an HA or headset. Asdescribed above, however, great overhead is generated because the datachannel process of the BLE technology involves advertising, connection,etc. whenever data is transmitted. Accordingly, latency absolutelyrequired for the transmission of audio data cannot be guaranteed.

Furthermore, the data channel process of the BLE technology involvessending intermittently generated data only when necessary, therebyimproving energy efficiency by leading a BLE device in a different timeregion to deep sleep. Therefore, it may be difficult to apply the datachannel process of the BLE technology to the transmission of audio datagenerated at a regular interval.

For such a reason, it is necessary to define a new mechanism in whichperiodically generated data, such as audio streams, is transmitted andreceived using the BLE technology.

Hereinafter, a method for sending and receiving data (e.g., audio data)generated at a regular interval using the BLE technology is described indetail.

In other words, a method for newly defining a channel for sending andreceiving (or transceiving) data generated at a regular interval in theBLE technology, additionally defining a mechanism related to thehandling of regular data without affecting energy performance of BLE,and sending data generated at a regular interval is provided below.

The phrases, such as audio streaming data, audio data, audio streaming,and audio stream used in this document, may be construed as providingthe same meaning.

The term “audio data” is hereinafter used to represent the differentterms, for convenience of understanding.

Isochronous Channel and Definition of a Mechanism Related to IsochronousChannel

A new channel, that is, an isochronous channel, is defined to send datagenerated at a regular interval using the BLE technology.

An isochronous channel is used to send isochronous data to devices usingisochronous streams.

Isochronous data refers to data transmitted at a particular timeinterval, that is, periodically or regularly.

In other words, an isochronous channel may represent a channel forsending and receiving periodically generated data, such as audio data,in the BLE technology.

An isochronous channel may be used to send and receive audio data to andfrom a single member, three of one or more coordinated members, or aplurality of members.

Furthermore, an isochronous channel corresponds to an isochronousstream, such as an audio stream, or a flushing channel which may be usedto send and receive important data in other time regions.

Methods using an isochronous channel described later are usedindependently of the advertising channel and data channel defined in theexisting (v4.2 or earlier) BLE technology.

Furthermore, this document additionally defines a new frequency channeland frequency hopping interval for an isochronous channel.

An isochronous channel enables a conductor to send an isochronous streamsuch as flushable data (e.g., time-bound audio data) to one or moremembers using the BLE.

In this case, the conductor may be represented as a master, and themember may be represented as a slave.

Furthermore, an isochronous channel may or may not be configured bysecurity setting.

Furthermore, an isochronous channel may be set up for various topologiesto allow the transmission of an isochronous stream between a singleconductor and a member, between a single conductor and a coordinatedpair of members which generates a stereo audio stream, such as hearingaids or stereo headsets, and between a single conductor and a pluralityof members synchronized with the same isochronous stream(s).

In this case, the member may send data to the conductor through anisochronous channel.

Furthermore, the isochronous channel may support the transmission andreception of shared audio, public audio, and broadcast audio as well asthe transmission and reception of personal audio.

A procedure for setting up an isochronous channel requires thathierarchy of profile level security and reliability requirements satisfyuse cases.

Furthermore, an isochronous channel may be used for variousapplications, by which a plurality of audio sources and sinks may be setup, and complicated topologies may be set up to allow users to regularlychange or share different audio streams.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a protocol stack of BLE which may use anisochronous channel.

Referring to FIG. 10, the protocol stack of BLE which supports anisochronous channel may be different from the protocol stack of FIG. 5.

More specifically, the protocol stack of BLE which supports anisochronous channel further includes an audio middleware layer added tothe protocol stack of FIG. 5.

The audio middleware layer supports an isochronous channel forcontinuous data transmission and reception.

The isochronous channel includes a connection-oriented isochronous (ICO)channel for sending and receiving continuous data, that is, forpoint-to-point transmission, in an LE connection state and aconnectionless isochronous (ICL) channel for sending and receivingcontinuous data, that is, for broadcast transmission, in a BLEnon-connection state.

Continuous data (e.g., audio stream data) may be transmitted andreceived through the ICO and ICL channels of the audio middleware layerof BLE.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a home ecosystem for applications to whichan isochronous channel may be applied.

In other words, FIG. 11 shows an example of the space in which aplurality of audio conductors and members to which methods according toembodiments of the present invention may be applied may move aroundinside/outside domains.

As shown in FIG. 11, the existence of various conductors and membersindicate that an isochronous channel is required as a method forproviding notification of the presence of members so that the memberscan obtain information necessary to form the isochronous channel.

An isochronous channel may also be used for the transmission andreception of non-audio data.

A member may use isochronous channels to determine existence ofnotification messages which may include acquisition information fromconductors within the range of BLE communication.

Furthermore, the member may use isochronous channels to receive arequest with respect to control information or service data from one ormore devices acting like a remote controller.

FIG. 12 shows an example of the type of an isochronous channel.

Referring to FIG. 12, the isochronous channel may include a channel forpoint-to-point transmission and a channel for broadcast transmission.

More specifically, FIG. 12(a) shows connection-oriented isochronous(ICO) channels, that is, isochronous channels for point-to-pointtransmission. In FIG. 14(a), a master device and a slave device areconnected through ICO channels, and may send and receive bi-directionaldata and responses thereto through the ICO channels.

The master device and the slave device may perform an LE connection(e.g., an ACL connection) in order to form and configure the ICOchannels. In this case, the ACL connection and the roles of the masterdevice and the slave device in the ICO channel are the same.

FIG. 12(b) shows connectionless isochronous (ICL) channels, that is,isochronous channels for broadcast transmission. The ICL channel is achannel for sending and receiving data in a BLE non-connection state.One or more slave devices have been synchronized with respective ICLchannels from a master device in order to receive data.

The ICL channel sends one-way, but does not send a response thereto.

That is, the one or more slave devices are able to only receive datafrom the master device through the ICL channels, but are unable to senddata to the master device through the ICL channels.

An embodiment of the present invention proposes a method for sending andreceiving audio streams such an ICO channel and/or ICL channel.

FIG. 13 shows an example of operating state transition according to theBLE technology.

As shown in FIG. 13, an isochronous channel (or an ISO channel) mayoperate in conjunction with an advertisement channel and data channel ofthe BLE technology.

Referring to FIG. 13, a BLE device may change the operating state to (1)a first connected state or (2) a second connected state in which data istransmitted and received in an advertisement state.

In this case, the first connected state refers to an operating state inwhich the BLE device sends and receives data through a data channel, andthe second connected state refers to an operating state in which the BLEdevice sends and receives data through an isochronous channel.

The BLE device may change its operating state to the first or secondconnected state depending on the type of data transmitted and receivedto and from devices or a data transmission type.

More specifically, the BLE device generates a data channel from anadvertisement channel operating in the first connected state, and alsogenerates an isochronous channel from an advertisement channel operatingin the second connected state.

Furthermore, if the BLE device changes its operating state from thefirst connected state to the advertisement state, it releases agenerated data channel. If the BLE device changes its operating statefrom the second connected state to the advertisement state, it releasesa generated isochronous channel.

For example, the BLE device changes its operating state from theadvertisement state to the second connected state in order to send andreceive audio data. In other words, the BLE device may send and receiveaudio data through the isochronous channel while it is connected to thesecond connected state.

Furthermore, the BLE device changes its operating state from theadvertisement to the first connected state in order to send and receivedata generated in a random fashion or intermittently.

In other words, the BLE device may send and receive the data through thedata channel in the first connected state.

As shown in FIG. 13, the BLE device makes a transition from theadvertisement state to the first connected state by generating a datachannel, if necessary, and sends and receives data through the generateddata channel.

When the transmission and reception of the data through the data channelis completed, the BLE device closes the generated data channel andreturns to the advertisement state, that is, the advertisement channel.

Likewise, the BLE device makes a transition from the advertisement stateto the second connected state by generating an isochronous channel, ifnecessary, and sends and receives data through the generated isochronouschannel.

When the transmission and reception of the data through the data channelis completed, the BLE device closes the generated isochronous channeland returns to the advertisement state, that is, the advertisementchannel.

As described above, the isochronous channel is generated in order tosend and receive data generated at a regular interval, such as audiodata, while the data channel is generated in order to send and receivedata irregularly or intermittently.

FIG. 14 illustrates various examples of isochronous stream transferthrough an isochronous channel.

FIGS. 14 (a) to (d) show various topologies used to send an isochronousstream, and FIGS. 14 (a) to (d) show conductors establishing isochronouschannels with the following member (s).

-   -   Two members which may receive the same or different isochronous        streams (e.g., a mono stream, a joint stereo stream or separate        left and right audio streams),    -   Three groups of members, with each group synchronized to a        separate isochronous stream,    -   A single member receiving a single isochronous stream from a        single isochronous channel.

A conductor establishes a plurality of isochronous channels sharingcharacteristics including the anchor point of the isochronous channel,by which members of a conductor may make the anchor points performed atthe same time. Such isochronous streams are called an “ensemble.”

A single isochronous channel which sends a single isochronous stream toa single member may not be an example of the ensemble, where suchpoint-to-point topology may be usually described as being operatedaccording to the unicast scheme when it is used for transmission ofaudio data.

Furthermore, an isochronous channel may be used to broadcast controlinformation to one or more members, to respond to individual broadcasttransmission, or to selectively request more information.

Through the operation described above, the conductor may operate inconjunction with a plurality of remote control devices. As shown in FIG.14, a BLE device may function as a member of an isochronous channel oras the conductor of a different BLE device.

In other words, BLE devices may function as both a conductor and amember in order to establish a plurality of isochronous channels.

FIGS. 15 and 16 illustrate another example of a data transfer methodusing an isochronous channel.

More specifically, FIG. 15 shows an example of a unicast transmissionmethod, and FIG. 16 shows an example of a broadcast transmission method.

First, the unicast transmission method through an isochronous channel isdescribed with reference to FIG. 15.

In the case of the unicast transmission method, devices may operate anisochronous channel selectively for one or more unicast transmissions.

As shown in FIG. 15, a master may unicast the same or different data toa predetermined number of connected or selected slaves.

The master may generate a dual isochronous channel in order to performbilateral communication with slaves, if necessary.

In other words, the master may form a dual isochronous channel bygenerating one isochronous channel along with one slave and the otherisochronous channel along with the slave.

In this case, the generation of the dual isochronous channel mayindicate that a downlink isochronous channel and an uplink isochronouschannel are respectively generated in order to achieve bilateralcommunication between the master and the slave or that isochronouschannels are generated between the master and two or more slaves.

Broadcast transmission through an isochronous channel is described belowwith reference to FIG. 16.

As shown in FIG. 16, broadcast transmission through an isochronouschannel is performed according to multicast transmission differentlyfrom the broadcast transmission method used for most cases (i.e., amethod for sending data to all of devices).

In other words, broadcast transmission through the isochronous channeldefined in the BLE specification refers to broadcasting data only to aslave dependent to a generated isochronous channel.

In other words, the master broadcasts data only to approved slavesthrough an isochronous channel.

Therefore, broadcast transmission through the isochronous channeldefined in the BLE specification should be construed as multicasttransmission towards a specific group.

FIG. 17 shows examples of an isochronous channel packet format which maybe applied to methods according to embodiments of the present invention.

The format of the isochronous channel packet transmitted through anisochronous channel is the same as that shown in FIGS. 17(a) and (b),but the present invention is not limited thereto and may have adifferent format.

As shown in FIG. 17(a), all of isochronous channels may have the packetformat defined in the Bluetooth specification v4.2 supporting anisochronous data PDU of 2 to 257 octets.

FIG. 17(a) shows an example of an extended PDU packet format, and theextended PDU packet format 2010 includes a preamble 2011, an accessaddress 2012, a PDU 2011, and cyclic redundancy check (CRC) 2014.

The preamble may include 1 octet, an access address of 4 octets, a PDUof 2 to 257 octets, and CRC of 3 octets.

FIG. 17(b) shows an example of an isochronous packet, and theisochronous packet (or isochronous channel PDU 2020) may include aheader 2021 of 16 bits and payload 2022 of 0 to 255 octets.

Furthermore, the isochronous packet may include a length field of an 8bit size, which is used to check the length of data located next to theheader.

The data length of the isochronous packet varies depending on the spacebetween isochronous channels and may be limited by a channel parameterimposed by a conductor. The isochronous packet may further include amessage integrity check (MIC) field.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating audio entities for audio transmissionaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment ofFIG. 18, each audio entity may be an entity for transmitting or settingup BLE-based audio (BLE audio) using an isochronous channel. Forexample, each audio entity may be audio conductors and membersconstituting a home echo system (or Bluetooth audio echo system)according to the embodiment of FIG. 11.

In this specification, each audio entity is a logical entity, and someor the entire entities may be included in the same physical device ordifferent physical devices. For example, an audio source entity (audiosource) and an audio controller entity (audio controller) may beincluded in a first physical device, and an audio sink entity (audiosink) may be included in a second physical device, different from thefirst physical device. A physical topology of these audio entities willbe described in detail below with reference to FIG. 19.

In this specification, the term “entity” may be referred to as anelement, a component, or a device. For example, an audio source entitymay be referred to as an audio source device. Hereinafter, each audioentity will be described.

The audio source entity (audio source) is an entity that provides audiodata. That is, an audio source may be a provider of audio streams. In anembodiment, the audio source may be an entity that provides audio data(audio stream data) using Bluetooth wireless technology. For example,the audio source may be a television, a music source, a doorbell, orpublic announcement that provides audio data. In an embodiment, theaudio source may be controlled by at least one audio controller entity(audio controller). In this case, the audio source needs to keep theaudio controller registered.

The audio sink entity (audio sink) is an entity that plays (or renders)audio received from at least one audio source. That is, the audio sinkmay be a consumer of audio streams. In an embodiment, the audio sink maybe an entity that plays audio stream received from at least one audiosource using Bluetooth wireless technology. For example, the audio sinkmay be a headset or a hearing aid (HA) that plays audio. In anembodiment, the audio sink may be controlled by at least one audiocontroller entity (audio controller). In this case, the audio sink needsto keep the audio controller registered.

The audio controller entity (audio controller) is an entity thatcontrols at least one audio source and/or at least one audio sink. Thatis, the audio controller may be a main controller of audio sources andaudio sinks. In an embodiment, the audio controller is an entity thatcontrols at least one audio source and/or at least one audio sink usingBluetooth wireless technology. For example, the audio controller may bea smart phone, a smart pad, or a remote controller that controls anaudio source and/or audio sink. In an embodiment, the audio controllermay be a remote controller (or controller) embedded in an audio sourceor audio sink. For example, the audio controller may be a hardwarebutton embedded in an audio source or audio sink.

In an embodiment, the audio controller may control services provided byan audio source and an audio sink, including the control of transportinformation, codec information, connectivity, mixing, and audio streams.Specifically, the audio controller may perform connection management ofconnection-oriented channels. Also, the audio controller may perform afunction of discovering an audio sink and transmitting information, forsynchronization of an audio source for a connectionless channel.Moreover, the audio controller may perform a codec parameter and/ortransport parameter negotiation function. In addition, the audiocontroller may perform an encryption level negotiation function.

In an embodiment, the audio controller does not store any configurationdata (or meta-data) of an audio source and an audio sink. Thus, theaudio controller may acquire configuration data from the audio source oraudio sink by sending a query for configuration data to the audio sourceor audio sink, if necessary. This may reduce the complexity of the audiocontroller.

A plurality of audio controllers may exist in a Bluetooth audio echosystem according to an embodiment. In this case, an audio source or anaudio sink may be connected to the plurality of audio controllers. In anembodiment, when the audio source or the audio sink is connected to aplurality of audio controllers, a hierarchy may exist between theplurality of audio controllers. That is, a plurality of audiocontrollers may form a hierarchical structure.

FIG. 19 shows physical topologies of audio entities according to anembodiment of the present invention. From a logical point of view, asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 19, at least three logicalentities, i.e., an audio source, an audio sink, and an audio controller,may exist in a Bluetooth audio echo system (e.g., BLE audio echosystem). From a physical point of view, various physical topologies mayexist depending on the position of the audio controller, as in FIG. 19,since the audio source and the audio sink comprise different physicaldevices.

As shown in (a) of FIG. 19, the audio controller may be located in adevice separate from an audio source and an audio sink. For example, theaudio controller may be a separate remote controller (e.g., smartphone)that controls an audio source (e.g., TV) and an audio sink (e.g.,headset).

Moreover, as shown in (b) of FIG. 19, the audio controller may belocated in an audio source. For example, the audio controller may be ahardware or software button of an audio source (e.g., MP3 player).

Moreover, as shown in (c) of FIG. 19, the audio controller may belocated in an audio sink. For example, the audio controller may be ahardware or software button of an audio sink (e.g., headset).

Moreover, as shown in (d) of FIG. 19, the audio controller may belocated in an audio source and an audio sink. For example, the audiocontroller may be a hardware or software button of an audio source(e.g., smartphone) and a hardware or software button of an audio sink(e.g., carkit).

As shown in (e) of FIG. 19, the audio controller may be located in anaudio source, an audio sink, and a device separate from the audio sourceand the audio sink. For example, the audio controller may be a hardwareor software button of an audio source (e.g., TV), a hardware or softwarebutton of an audio sink (e.g., headset), and a hardware or softwarebutton of a separate remote controller (e.g., smartphone). An embodimentof (e) of FIG. 19 may be an integrated topology that needs to be takeninto consideration for BLE audio.

FIG. 20 shows multiplicity topologies of audio entities according to oneembodiment of the present invention. That is, FIG. 20 shows topologieswhich take the multiplicity of audio entities into consideration.

Referring to (a) of FIG. 20, a Bluetooth echo system may include aplurality of audio sinks. For example, a Bluetooth echo system mayinclude a plurality of audio sinks, such as 2/5 and 1/7 channel speakersand a headset, connected to an audio source such as a TV.

Referring to (b) of FIG. 20, a Bluetooth echo system may include aplurality of audio sources. For example, a Bluetooth echo system mayinclude a plurality of audio sources, such as a TV, phone, and mediaplayer, connected to an audio sink such as a speaker.

Referring to (c) of FIG. 20, a Bluetooth echo system may include aplurality of audio controllers. For example, a Bluetooth echo system mayinclude a plurality of audio controllers, such as a TV, hearing aid, andphone, that control an audio sink such as a headset (or hearing aid) andan audio source such as a TV.

Hereinafter, primary modules that perform functions of core audiomiddleware (or audio middleware) layer according to one embodiment ofthe present invention will be described. Particularly, a client-serverarchitecture in an audio middleware layer according to one embodiment ofthe present invention will be described. Here, the audio middlewarelayer may be the audio middleware layer of the embodiment of FIG. 10.

In this specification, a server refers to an entity (or device) thatprovides at least one service that can be used by a plurality ofclients. A client refers to an entity (or device) that uses at least oneservice on a server. In an embodiment, one physical device may include aplurality of clients, a plurality of servers, or a combination ofclients and servers.

In this specification, a client-server architecture may comprise aserver service (or server) and a client. In an embodiment, a serverservice may include, as an element, audio source service, audio sinkservice, volume service, meta-data service, codec information service,transport information service, content protection service, audiocontroller access service, and/or mixing service. In an embodiment, aclient may include, as an element, an audio controller client and/or anaudio sink client. A detailed description of this will be describedbelow with reference to FIGS. 21 and 22.

FIG. 21 shows client-server interactions within audio entities accordingto one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 21, the arrowsindicate services provided by a server that a client can access. Forexample, the arrows from an audio controller client to the services ofan audio source indicate that the audio controller as a client canaccess the services provided by the audio source as a server. In anotherexample, the arrows from an audio sink client to the audio sourceservices of an audio source indicate that the audio sink as a client canaccess the audio source services provided by the audio source as aserver.

In FIG. 21, M indicates that a corresponding element is mandatory, and Oindicates that a corresponding element is optional. C1 indicates that acorresponding element is mandatory in a connection-oriented channel andoptional in a connectionless channel. For example, the audio sourceservice may be mandatory for the audio source entity, the transportinformation service may be optional for the audio source entity, theencryption service may be mandatory for the audio source entity in aconnection-oriented channel and optional for the audio source entity ina connectionless channel. In this specification, the connection-orientedchannel may be referred to as an ICO channel, and the connectionlesschannel may be referred to as an ICL channel.

Referring to FIG. 21, the services provided by the audio source entityinclude audio source service, meta-data service, transport informationservice, codec information service, mixing service, audio controlleraccess service, encryption service, and/or volume service.

Also, the services provided by the audio sink entity include audiosource service, meta-data service, transport information service, codecinformation service, mixing service, audio controller access service,encryption service, and/or volume service. In an embodiment, an audiosink may operate as a client for the audio source. That is, the audiosink, as a client, may access the audio source services provided by theaudio source.

Moreover, the audio controller entity, as a client, may access theservices provided by the audio source or audio sink, as a server. Thatis, the audio controller entity may only exist as a client.

FIG. 22 is a table of definitions of service/client characteristicsaccording to one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 22,services may refer to services provided by the above-described server(e.g., audio source or audio sink).

Referring to FIG. 22, services include audio source service, meta-dataservice, transport information service, codec information service,mixing service, audio controller access service, encryption service,and/or volume service.

In an embodiment, the audio source service provides an interface (e.g.,start, stop, suspend, and resume) for audio streaming and can becontrolled by commands sent by an audio controller. Moreover, the audiosource service may send advertising information related to audio streams(e.g., codec information, meta-data, source stream parameters, etc.). Inan embodiment, the audio source service may be mandatory for the audiosource entity.

In an embodiment, the audio sink service may provide an interface forsynchronization of streams served by an audio source. Moreover, theaudio sink service may render (or play) audio streams. In addition, theaudio sink service may send advertising information related to thepresence of an audio sink. In an embodiment, the audio sink service maybe mandatory for the audio sink entity.

In an embodiment, the meta-data service may provide meta-data related toaudio streams. For example, the meta-data service may provide meta-datasuch as channel information, stream information, bitrate, codec,sampling rate, audio source information, audio sink information,language, stream ID, number of channels, and/or application type (e.g.,alarm, public announcement, phone call, music, video, andadvertisement). In an embodiment, the meta-data service may be mandatoryfor the audio source entity. In an embodiment, the meta-data service maybe provided only by the audio source entity.

In an embodiment, the audio controller access service may provide aninterface for registering one or more audio controller clients andkeeping them registered. Moreover, the audio controller access servicemay provide access control. Access control may prevent access fromunauthorized audio controller clients. In addition, an audio controllerclient may use the services provided by an audio source and audio sinkafter registration. Further, the audio controller access service mayallow for acquisition of audio streaming information from an audiosource. In an embodiment, the audio controller access service may bemandatory for the audio source entity and the audio sink entity.

In an embodiment, the code information service may provide an interfacefor sending a query for a list of supported codecs. In an embodiment,the audio controller client may send a query for code information to anaudio source and an audio sink and then negotiate on the codecinformation and perform matching. In an embodiment, the code informationservice may be optional for the audio source entity and the audio sinkentity.

In an embodiment, the transport information service may provide aninterface for getting transport parameters. In an embodiment, an audiosource and an audio sink may support this service. In this case, theaudio controller client may send a query for transport information tothe audio source and the audio sink and then negotiate on the transportinformation and perform matching. In an embodiment, the transportinformation service may be optional for the audio source entity and theaudio sink entity.

In an embodiment, the mixing service may provide a feature for mixingaudio channels into one channel. This service may be provided by anaudio source and an audio sink. In an embodiment, the mixing service maybe optional for the audio source entity and the audio sink entity.

In an embodiment, the volume service may provide a volume up/downfeature. This service may be provided by an audio source and an audiosink. In an embodiment, the volume service may be optional for the audiosource entity and the audio sink entity.

Referring to FIG. 22, a client may include an audio controller clientand/or an audio sink client.

In an embodiment, the audio controller client may use all servicessupported by an audio source and an audio sink. The audio controllerclient may be located in an audio controller entity. The audiocontroller entity may reside (or be located) in an audio source device(or entity), audio sink device (or entity), or a dedicated, separateremote controller.

In an embodiment, the audio sink client may obtain audio streaminginformation from an audio controller. Moreover, the audio sink clientmay synchronize audio streaming information from an audio source inorder to receive audio stream data. In addition, the audio sink clientmay be located in an audio sink.

FIG. 23 shows service usage architectures in respective entitiesaccording to one embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, (a)of FIG. 23 shows service-to-terminology mapping according to oneembodiment of the present invention, and (b) of FIG. 23 shows servicemapping within a client-server architecture according to one embodimentof the present invention.

Referring to (a) of FIG. 23, an audio source may be implemented as aserver that provides service to audio-A, audio-C, and audio-S. An audiosink may be implemented as a server that provides service to audio-A andaudio-C. An audio controller may be implemented as a client for audio-Aand audio-C.

Here, audio-A is an audio link that supports advertising andannouncement of audio data. Audio-C is an audio link that supportscontrol and configuration of audio data to be transmitted. Audio-S is anaudio link that supports transmission of audio streams.

In an embodiment, a service for audio-A may be a service (e.g., audiosource service or audio sink service) provided via the audio-A link thatsupports advertising and announcement of audio data, a service foraudio-C may be a service (e.g., audio source service or audio sinkservice) provided via the audio-C link that supports control andconfiguration of audio data to be transmitted, and a service for audio-Smay be a service (e.g., audio source service) provided via the audio-Slink that supports transmission of audio streams.

(b) of FIG. 23 demonstrates which entity operates as a server for aparticular service and what entity operates as a client that can accessthis particular service.

For example, in the case of the audio source service for audio-A, theaudio source operates as a server, and the audio controller operates asa client. In the case of the audio source service for audio-C, the audiosource operates as a server, and the audio controller operates as aclient. In the case of the audio source service for audio-S, the audiosource operates as a server, and the audio sink operates as a client.

In another example, in the case of the audio sink service for audio-A oraudio-C, the audio sink operates as a server, and the audio controlleroperates as a client.

In still another example, in the case of the meta-data service, theaudio source operates as a server, and the audio controller operates asa client. Moreover, in the case of the transport information service,codec information service, audio controller control service, or volumeservice, the audio source or the audio sink operates as a server, andthe audio controller operates as a client.

In a further example, in the case of the encryption service, which is atype of content protection service, the audio source operates as aserver, and the audio controller operates as a client.

For example, in the case of the meta-data service, the audio sourceoperates as a server that provides this service, and the audiocontroller operates as a client that can access this service. In thisembodiment, it can be found out that the audio sink is not related tothe meta-data service.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for sendingand receiving audio streams through an LE connection to which a methodproposed in this specification may be applied.

Referring to FIG. 24, the first device 200 that is a slave device, mayestablish an LE connection with the second device 300 that is a masterdevice, may generate an isochronous channel, and may receive audiostream data through the isochronous channel.

A detailed procedure for receiving audio stream data through an LEconnection is described in detail below.

LE Connection Establishment Procedure S24010

The first device 200 may perform an LE connection establishmentprocedure with the second device 300 in order to receive audio streamdata from the second device 300.

In this case, the LE connection establishment procedure may be performedthrough the method described with reference to FIG. 7.

Service Level Connection Establishment Procedure S24020

After establishing an LE connection with the second device 300, thefirst device 200 may perform a service level connection establishmentprocedure.

The service level connection establishment procedure may be performeddue to a reason similar to that of the service level connectionestablishment procedure described with reference to FIG. 10 or 21.

For example, the first device 200 may perform state synchronizationthrough the service level connection establishment procedure, and mayopen a control channel (i.e., a second channel) in order to control anisochronous channel (i.e., a first channel) for sending and receivingaudio stream data.

In this case, the control channel may be one of BLE data channels.

If the first device 200 is divided into a left device and a right devicelike a headset, the state synchronization means that synchronization isperformed between the left device and the right device and may beperformed through the GATT message of BLE.

After opening the control channel, the first device 200 may perform acodec & transport parameter negotiation procedure along with the seconddevice 300 (S24030).

Codec & Transport Parameter Negotiation Procedure S24030

The first device 200 may determine audio stream data and parametersrelated to the transmission and reception of the audio stream datathrough a codec parameter and transport parameter negotiation procedurealong with the second device 300.

More specifically, the first device 200 may send a supported codecparameter and transport parameter to the second device 300.

The codec parameter may include a codec name (or a codec type), a samplerate indicative of a total number of samples extracted during 1 second,a bit depth indicative of the potential precision of hardware orsoftware which processes audio data in digital audio, a bit rate, aframe length, and audio channel information (e.g., mono, stereo, or dualmode).

The transport parameter may include maximum transport latency, thenumber of audio streams, and an encryption level.

Thereafter, the first device 200 may receive a codec parameter andtransport parameter, supported by the second device, from the seconddevice 300 and select proper parameters of common parameters.

In an embodiment, the second device 300 may select proper parameters ofthe received codec parameter and transport parameter and send theselected parameters to the first device 200.

In an embodiment, the second device 300 may send a supported codecparameter and transport parameter to the first device 200. The firstdevice 200 may select proper parameters of the received parameters andsend them to the second device 300.

Isochronous Connection Establishment Procedure S24040

After selecting proper parameters through the codec & transportparameter negotiation procedure, the first device 200 and the seconddevice 300 may perform an isochronous connection establishmentprocedure.

Through the isochronous connection establishment procedure, the firstdevice 200 may form an audio stream along with the second device 300 andmay open an isochronous channel for sending and receiving the formedaudio stream.

In this case, the type (i.e., ICO or ICL) of the isochronous channel, achannel ID (CID), a channel map, a connection interval, latency, achannel count, and a retransmission count may be determined through theisochronous connection establishment procedure.

Audio Stream Connection Establishment Procedure S24050

The first device 200 that has opened the isochronous channel may performan audio stream connection establishment procedure along with the seconddevice 300.

The audio stream connection establishment procedure is a procedure forsending and receiving the formed audio stream. The first device 200 mayconfigure (or assign) a role for sending and receiving the formed audiostream to and from the second device 300 through the audio streamconnection establishment procedure.

Furthermore, state synchronization may be performed between the firstdevice 200 and the second device 300. The first device 200 and thesecond device 300 may open an audio link for sending and receiving theformed audio stream.

Thereafter, the first device 200 may receive an audio stream from thesecond device 300 and output the received audio stream to the outsidethrough the output unit.

Through such a method, the first device 200 may determine properparameters for sending, receiving, and playing back audio streams alongwith the second device 300, and may provide an audio streaming servicethrough the determined parameters.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a method forsending and receiving audio streams through an LE connection to which amethod proposed in this specification may be applied.

Referring to FIG. 25, unlike in the example of FIG. 24, a service levelconnection establishment procedure may not be performed, but statesynchronization may be performed in an audio stream connectionestablishment procedure.

More specifically, the first device 200 may perform an LE connectionestablishment procedure along with the second device 300 in order toreceive audio stream data from the second device 300 (S25010).

In this case, the LE connection establishment procedure may be performedthrough the method described with reference to FIG. 7.

The first device 200 may open a control channel in order to control anisochronous channel for sending and receiving audio stream data to andfrom the second device 300.

Thereafter, step S25020 and step S25030 are the same as step S24030 andstep S24040 of FIG. 24, and a description thereof is omitted.

The first device 200 that has opened the isochronous channel may performan audio stream connection establishment procedure along with the seconddevice 300 (S25040).

The audio stream connection establishment procedure is a procedure forsending and receiving the formed audio stream. The first device 200 mayconfigure (or assign) a role for sending and receiving the formed audiostream to and from the second device 300 through the audio streamconnection establishment procedure.

Furthermore, state synchronization may be performed between the firstdevice 200 and the second device 300. The first device 200 and thesecond device 300 may perform the state synchronization described atstep S24020 of FIG. 24 through the GATT message.

Furthermore, the first device 200 and the second device 300 may open anaudio link for sending and receiving the audio stream.

Thereafter, the first device 200 may receive an audio stream from thesecond device 300 and output the received audio stream to the outsidethrough the output unit.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating a method of establishing a BLEconnection according to an embodiment of the present invention.Particularly, FIG. 26 illustrates an example of a method of establishing(setting) a BLE connection for providing a service including audio datausing BLE technology. In FIG. 26, a detailed description correspondingto that described with reference to FIG. 7 will be omitted.

Referring to FIG. 26, the BLE connection establishment step includesstep S26100 of establishing a BLE connection between the audio sink andthe audio controller and step S26200 of establishing a BLE connectionbetween the audio source and the audio controller or the audio sink.That is, at the BLE connection establishment step, the audio source, theaudio sink, and the audio controller each establish a BLE connectiontherebetween, thereby establishing a BLE connection. Hereinafter, eachstep will be described in detail.

First, step S26100 of establishing a BLE connection between the audiosink and the audio controller will be described. In the embodiment, theaudio sink may operate as a server, and the audio controller may operateas a client. In this case, the audio sink may transmit advertisementmessage through an advertisement channel. The audio controller maytransmit a connection request for establishing a BLE connection with theaudio sink in response to the received advertisement message. Thereby, aBLE connection may be established between the audio sink and the audiocontroller.

Thereafter, step S26200 of establishing a BLE connection between theaudio source and the audio controller or the audio sink will bedescribed. In the embodiment, the audio source may operate as a server,and the audio controller and the audio sink may operate as a client. Inthis way, the audio sink may operate as a client upon establishing a BLEconnection with the audio sink and may operate as a source uponestablishing a BLE connection with the audio controller.

In this case, the audio sink may transmit advertisement message throughan advertisement channel. The audio controller may transmit a connectionrequest for establishing a BLE connection with the audio source inresponse to the received advertisement message. Further, the audio sinkmay transmit a connection request for establishing a BLE connection withthe audio source in response to the received advertisement message.Thereby, a BLE connection may be each established between the audiosource and the audio controller or the audio sink.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing a method of registering an audiocontroller according to one embodiment of the present invention.Particularly, FIG. 27 shows an embodiment of a method in which an audiocontroller for controlling an audio source and an audio sink isregistered by sending a registration request message to the audio sourceand the audio sink from the audio controller once a BLE connection isestablished.

Referring to FIG. 27, the audio controller registration method mayinclude a procedure of establishing a BLE connection for an audiosource, an audio sink, and an audio controller (S27100). In this case,the BLE connection establishment procedure may be performed by theabove-described method with reference to FIGS. 7 and 24.

Moreover, the audio controller registration method may include a controlpath opening procedure (S27200). Specifically, the audio controller mayperform a procedure of opening a control path (or channel) for the audiosource and/or audio sink. Here, the control channel is one of datachannels for BLE audio, and may be a data channel (or link) fortransmitting control information (or data) for control and configurationof audio data.

In an embodiment, the audio controller may open a control channel forthe audio source and audio sink by registering itself as a remotecontroller for the audio source and audio sink. For example, the audiocontroller may register itself as a remote controller for the audiosource by sending a register RC message to the audio source andreceiving a response message from the audio source as a response to theregister RC message. In another example, the audio controller mayregister itself as a remote controller for the audio sink by sending aregister RC message to the audio sink and receiving a response messagefrom the audio sink as a response to the register RC message. By this,the audio controller may open a control channel for the audio source andaudio sink and control the audio source and the audio sink via thecontrol channel.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing a method of deregistering an audiocontroller according to one embodiment of the present invention.Particularly, FIG. 28 shows an embodiment of a method in which an audiocontroller for controlling an audio source and an audio sink isderegistered by sending a deregistration message to the audio source andthe audio sink from the audio controller while a control path is openedafter a BLE connection establishment procedure S28100 and/or controlpath establishment procedure S28200 is performed. In this case, the BLEconnection establishment procedure S28100 may be performed by theabove-described method with reference to FIGS. 7 and 24. The controlpath establishment procedure S28200 also may be performed by theabove-described method with reference to FIGS. 7 and 24.

Referring to FIG. 28, the audio controller deregistration method mayinclude a control path closing procedure (S28300). Specifically, theaudio controller may perform a procedure of closing a control path (orchannel) for the audio source and/or audio sink. Here, the controlchannel is one of data channels for BLE audio, and may be a data channel(or link) for transmitting control information (or data) for control andconfiguration of audio data.

In an embodiment, the audio controller may close a control channel forthe audio source and audio sink by deregistering itself as a remotecontroller for the audio source and audio sink. For example, the audiocontroller may register itself as a remote controller for the audiosource by sending a deregister RC message to the audio source andreceiving a response message from the audio source as a response to thederegister RC message. In another example, the audio controller mayderegister itself as a remote controller for the audio sink by sending aderegister RC message to the audio sink and receiving a response messagefrom the audio sink as a response to the deregister RC message. By this,the audio controller may close a control channel for the audio sourceand audio sink.

In an embodiment, if the audio source or the audio sink moves beyond apreset range, the audio controller may perform the above-describedcontrol path closing procedure. In this case, the BLE connection may bereleased based on a connection timeout setting. For example, if a presetconnection timeout period is up, the BLE connection may be released.Afterwards, if the audio sink or the audio moves back into the presetrange, the audio controller may perform the BLE connection and controlpath opening procedures again.

FIG. 29 shows a codec and transport negotiation procedure according toone embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, FIG. 29 shows afirst embodiment of a codec and transport negotiation procedure for aconnection-oriented channel (e.g., ICO channel). In the embodiment ofFIG. 29, a control channel may be a data channel.

FIG. 29 shows message types an audio controller transmits and receivesto and from an audio source or audio sink according to one embodiment ofthe present invention. Specifically, FIG. 29 shows message types anaudio controller transmits and receives to and from an audio source oraudio sink after the audio controller is registered.

Referring to FIG. 29, an audio controller may control an audio source oraudio sink by transmitting a control command (or control message) to theaudio source or audio sink. Also, the audio controller may receive aresponse message to the control message from the audio source or audiosink. Also, the audio controller may receive an event message orindication message from the audio source or audio sink. The eventmessage may contain information on an event created by the audio sourceor audio sink. The indication message may contain indication informationfrom the audio source or audio sink.

FIG. 30 shows an audio stream provision method according to oneembodiment of the present invention. Specifically, FIG. 30 shows amethod of providing an audio stream under control of an audiocontroller, after a BLE connection establishment procedure and a controlpath opening procedure are performed according to FIGS. 24 and 25.

Referring to FIG. 30, the audio stream provision method may include acontrol procedure. Specifically, an audio controller may perform aprocedure of controlling an audio source or audio sink. In anembodiment, the audio controller may control the audio source or audiosink by transmitting a control command (message) to the audio source oraudio sink over a control channel. In this case, the audio source oraudio sink may perform a corresponding operation based on the controlmessage, and transmit a corresponding response message to the audiocontroller. In this specification, the control message may be referredto as an audio stream command (CMD).

In an embodiment, the audio controller may control the audio source bytransmitting a first control message to the audio source. For example,the audio controller may control the audio source by transmitting afirst control message (e.g., streaming execution message) for a service(e.g., audio streaming service) provided by the audio source. In thiscase, the first control message may contain information (e.g., addressinformation of a streaming server for executing streaming) related to aservice.

Afterwards, the audio source may perform a corresponding operation(e.g., execution of streaming) based on a first control message andtransmit a first response message to the audio controller. In this case,the first response message may contain information (e.g., audio streamID information) for receiving an audio stream provided by the audiosource. In an embodiment, the audio stream ID information may beassociated with information on a channel over which the correspondingaudio stream is transmitted.

In an embodiment, the audio controller may control the audio sink bytransmitting a second control message to the audio sink. For example,the audio controller may control the audio sink by transmitting a secondcontrol message (e.g., audio playback start message) for a service(e.g., audio playback service) provided by the audio sink. In anembodiment, the second control message may be a message containing theaudio stream ID information contained in the first response message. Bythis, the audio sink may get information required to receive an audiostream provided by the audio source.

Afterwards, the audio sink may perform a corresponding operation (e.g.,audio playback start) based on the second control message and transmit asecond response message to the audio controller. In this case, thesecond response message may contain information on whether the operationcorresponding to the second control message is successful or not.

In this way, the audio controller may control the audio source and theaudio sink by transmitting a first control message to the audio source,receiving a first response message to the first control message from theaudio source, generating a second control message based on the firstresponse message and transmitting it to the audio sink, and receiving asecond response message to the second control message from the audiosource. By this, the audio controller may control the establishment of atransport path for audio stream transmission between the audio sourceand the audio sink.

In an embodiment, a procedure of establishing a transport path for audiostream transmission may be performed by at least either the isochronousconnection establishment procedure or audio stream connectionestablishment procedure described above with reference to FIG. 24 orFIG. 25.

Further, the audio stream provision method may include an audio streamtransmission/reception procedure. In an embodiment, the audio sink mayreceive an audio stream provided by the audio source based on the secondcontrol message. For example, the audio sink may receive an audio streamfrom a channel over which the corresponding audio stream is received,based on the audio stream ID information contained in the second controlmessage. Afterwards, the audio sink may play (or render) the receivedaudio stream.

FIG. 31 shows an audio stream provision method according to anotherembodiment of the present invention. Specifically, FIG. 31 shows amethod in which an audio sink plays an audio stream under control of anaudio controller, when an audio source transmits the audio streamthrough broadcast or public announcement.

Referring to FIG. 31, before the transmission of an audio stream, a BLEconnection establishment procedure and a control path opening proceduremay be performed between an audio controller and an audio sink. By this,the audio controller may be registered on the audio sink. In theembodiment of FIG. 31, the control path opening procedure is notperformed between the audio controller and an audio source since theaudio source transmits the audio stream through broadcast or publicannouncement. That is, there is no need to register the audio controlleron the audio source.

The audio source may transmit an advertising message. In an embodiment,the advertising message may contain audio source information. Forexample, the advertising message may contain at least one among theaudio stream's identification information (e.g., audio stream IDinformation), language information, synchronization information,transport parameter information, and codec parameter information. In anembodiment, the identification information may be a universally uniqueidentifier (UUID) information for the audio stream provided by the audiosource.

If the audio controller receives an advertising message from the audiosource after the audio controller is registered on the audio sink, theaudio controller may generate a control message for the audio sink basedon the advertising message. For example, the audio controller maygenerate a control message related to the reception of an audio streambased on the advertising message. In an embodiment, the control messagemay contain stream ID information for an audio stream provided by theaudio source. By this, the audio sink may receive an audio stream fromthe audio source.

Hereinafter, requirements that need to be considered when a plurality ofaudio controllers (or remote controllers) exist in an audio topologywill be described with reference to FIGS. 32 to 34.

First of all, from the point of view of an audio controller, when aplurality of audio controllers exist in an audio topology, it isnecessary to take into account which audio source(s) or audio sink(s)need to be connected (or recognized) by the audio controller. In anembodiment, the audio controller may receive an audio-A message, and beconnected to an audio source or sink entity within coverage.

Next, from the point of view of an audio source/sink, when a pluralityof audio controllers exist in an audio topology, it is necessary to takeinto account how to simultaneously select appropriate messagestransmitted by the plurality of audio controllers. In an embodiment,appropriate messages may be selected by the audio source or audio sinkaccording to priority.

FIG. 32 shows a table of access levels to an audio controller accordingto one embodiment of the present invention. By defining a table (orinformation) of access levels to an audio controller, as in theembodiment of FIG. 32, the audio source and the audio sink may check thepriority of a control message transmitted by an audio controller(s). Inan embodiment, the access level information may be used when the audiocontroller is registered in the audio source or audio sink.

Referring to FIG. 32, the audio controller may have three access levels.First, Full level, which is the highest priority, may allow forexclusive access permission and user level permission. Normal level,which is the next highest priority, may allow for user level permission.Limited level, which is the lowest priority, may allow for limited userlevel permission.

Here, exclusive access permission is the highest priority, in which caseno other control messages transmitted by other audio controllers, otherthan the control message transmitted by the corresponding audiocontroller, may be discarded. User level permission refers to permittingan audio controller to use all services provided by a server. Limiteduser level permission refers to permitting an audio controller to useonly services transmitted through broadcast (not controlled by the audiocontroller).

FIG. 33 is a conceptual diagram showing access from an audio controllerto an audio source or audio sink according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

In an embodiment, access from an audio controller to service(s) providedby an audio source tend to focus on unicast/broadcast. Also, access fromthe audio controller to service(s) provided by an audio sink tend tofocus on use case environments (e.g., personal/shared/public).

Referring to the left table of FIG. 33, an audio source (e.g., musicsource, or TV) transmitting an audio stream through unicast may haveFull level for the audio controller. An audio source (e.g., musicsource, TV, or doorbell) transmitting an audio stream by securebroadcast may have Normal level for the audio controller. In this case,there may be other remote controllers having exclusive access. An audiosource transmitting an audio stream (e.g., smoke alarm, publicannouncement, commercial advertisement) through broadcast may haveLimited level for the audio controller.

Referring to the right table of FIG. 33, an audio sink (e.g., hearingaid, headset, or speaker(s)) providing an audio stream in a personalenvironment may have Full level for the audio controller. An audio sink(e.g., party mode speaker(s)) providing an audio stream in a sharedenvironment may have Normal level for the audio controller. In thiscase, there may be other remote controllers having exclusive access. Inthe case of an audio sink (e.g., dedicated speaker) providing an audiostream in a public environment, there is no need to take the level forthe audio controller into account.

FIG. 34 is a table showing exclusive or non-exclusive access from anaudio controller to an audio source or audio sink according to oneembodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment, exclusive ornon-exclusive access from an audio controller to an audio source oraudio sink may be used only in a personal or shared environment.

Referring to FIG. 34, in a personal environment, exclusive access may bepermitted or not, and non-exclusive access may be permitted. In thiscase, the audio topology may have a dedicated audio controller. Forexample, if exclusive access is permitted, the audio topology may have adedicated audio controller, and if exclusive access is not permitted,the audio topology may have no dedicated audio controller.

In a shared environment, exclusive access may be permitted, andnon-exclusive access may not be permitted. In this case, the audiotopology needs a dedicated audio controller.

FIG. 35 shows a method of transmitting and receiving data according toone embodiment of the present invention. Particularly, FIG. 35 shows amethod for a first device to transmit and receive data using BluetoothLow Energy technology.

Here, the first device refers to a device (or entity) that controls atleast one device using BLE technology. For example, the first device maybe an audio controller that controls at least one audio source and/or atleast one audio sink. Here, the audio source is a device (or entity)that provides audio streams, and may be referred to as a second device.The audio sink is a device (or entity) that consumes audio streamsreceived from at least one audio source, and may be referred to as athird device.

As described above, entities including an audio controller entity as thefirst device, an audio source entity as the second device, and an audiosink entity as the third device are logical entities, and some or theentire entities may be included in the same physical device or differentphysical devices. For example, the audio source and the audio controllermay be included in a first physical device, and the audio sink may beincluded in a second physical device, different from the first physicaldevice.

Moreover, each of the above-described devices or entities may comprise acommunication part (communication module) for communicating with theoutside or inside in a wired or wireless manner.

The first device may establish a Bluetooth LE connection with at leastone device (S35100). For example, the first device may establish aBluetooth LE connection with the second device and/or third device. Amethod of establishing a BLE connection among the first device, seconddevice, and third device is as described with reference to FIG. 26, so adetailed description thereof will be omitted.

The first device may open a control path for at least one device(S35200). The first device may open a control path for the second deviceand/or third device. In an embodiment, the first device may open acontrol path by sending to each of the second and third devices aregistration request message asking for its registration as a remotecontroller and receiving a response message to the registration requestmessage from each of the second and third devices—a description of whichhas been given above with reference FIG. 28, so redundant descriptionwill be omitted.

The first device may transmit a control message associated with audiostreaming to the at least one device via the control path. (S35300).

In an embodiment, if the second device transmits the audio streamthrough broadcast, the at least one device may correspond to the thirddevice. That is, the first device may establish a BLE connection withthe third device and establish a control path for the third device. Inthis case, after the step of establishing a control path, the firstdevice may receive an advertising message containing audio sourceinformation from the second device. Upon receiving the advertisingmessage, the first device may transmit the control message to the thirddevice. In an embodiment, the control message may be generated based onthe audio source information contained in the advertising message. In anembodiment, the audio source information may include at least one amongthe audio stream's identification information, language information,synchronization information, transport information, and codecinformation.

In another embodiment, the step of establishing a Bluetooth LEconnection may include the step of establishing a Bluetooth LEconnection with the second device and the third device. Further, thestep of opening a control path may include the step of opening a controlpath for the second device and third device. Further, the step oftransmitting the control message to the at least one device may includethe steps of: transmitting to the second device a first control messageassociated with the transmission of the audio stream; and transmittingto the third device a second control message associated with thereception of the audio stream. In an embodiment, the second controlmessage may be generated based on a response message received from thesecond device as a response to the first control message.

In an embodiment, the second control message may contain audio streamidentification information for identifying the audio stream transmittedby the second device.

Each step described in the foregoing embodiment may be performed byhardware/processors. Each module/block/unit described in the foregoingembodiment may operate as hardware/processor. Further, methods suggestedby the present invention may be executed as a code. The code may berecorded in a processor readable storage medium and may be thus read bya processor provided by an apparatus.

For convenience of description, embodiments are divided and describedwith reference to each drawing, but embodiments described with referenceto each drawing may be combined to implement a new embodiment. Aconfiguration and method of the foregoing embodiments are not limitedlyapplied to an apparatus and method according to the present inventionbut for various changes of the foregoing embodiments, the entire or someof each embodiment may be selectively combined.

A method suggested by the present invention may be implemented into aprocessor readable code in a processor readable recording mediumprovided in a network device. A processor readable recording mediumincludes an entire kind of record device that stores data that may beread by a processor. The processor readable recording medium mayinclude, for example, a read-only memory (ROM), a random-access memory(RAM), a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, and an optical datastorage apparatus and includes implementation in a form of a carrierwave such as transmission through Internet. Further, the processorreadable recording medium is distributed in a computer system connectedto a network, and a processor readable code may be stored and executedwith a distributed method.

Further, in the foregoing description, embodiments of the presentinvention are described, but the present invention is not limited to theforegoing specific embodiment and changes and variations may be made bythose having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spiritor scope of the following claims and all such changes, modifications andalterations should therefore be seen as within the scope of the presentinvention.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations may be made in the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it isintended that the present invention cover the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

In this specification, the entire of apparatus and method inventions aredescribed and a description of the entire of apparatus and methodinventions may be complementarily applied.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method in which a first device transmits andreceives data to and from a second device and a third device usingBluetooth Low Energy technology in a wireless communication system, thesecond device being a device that transmits an audio stream, and thethird device being a device that receives the audio stream, the methodcomprising: establishing a Bluetooth LE connection with at least onedevice; opening a control path for the at least one device; andtransmitting a control message associated with audio streaming to the atleast one device via the control path, the opening of a control pathcomprising: sending to the at least one device a registration requestmessage for registering the first device as a remote controller; andreceiving a response message from the at least one device as a responseto the registration request message.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein,if the second device transmits the audio stream through broadcast, theat least one device corresponds to the third device, the method furthercomprising receiving from the second device an advertising messagecontaining audio source information after the opening of a control path,wherein, in the transmitting of a control message to the at least onedevice, the first device transmits the control message to the thirddevice upon receiving the advertising message, and the control messageis generated based on the audio source information contained in theadvertising message.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the audio sourceinformation comprises at least one among the audio stream'sidentification information, language information, synchronizationinformation, transport information, and codec information.
 4. The methodof claim 2, wherein the establishing of a Bluetooth LE connectioncomprises establishing a Bluetooth LE connection with the second deviceand the third device, the opening of a control path comprises opening acontrol path for the second device and the third device, and thetransmitting of a control message to the at least one message comprises:transmitting to the second device a first control message associatedwith the transmission of the audio stream; and transmitting to the thirddevice a second control message associated with the reception of theaudio stream, wherein the second control message is generated based on aresponse message received from the second device as a response to thefirst control message.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the secondcontrol message contains audio stream identification for identifying theaudio stream transmitted by the second device.
 6. A first device whichtransmits and receives data to and from a second device and a thirddevice using Bluetooth Low Energy technology, the second device being adevice that transmits an audio stream, and the third device being adevice that receives the audio stream, the first device comprising: acommunication part configured to communicate with the outside in a wiredor wireless manner; and a processor functionally connected to thecommunication part, wherein the processor is further configured to:establish a Bluetooth LE connection with at least one device, open acontrol path for the at least one device, and transmit a control messageassociated with audio streaming to the at least one device via thecontrol path, the opening of a control path comprising: sending to theat least one device a registration request message for registering thefirst device as a remote controller; and receiving a response messagefrom the at least one device as a response to the registration requestmessage.
 7. The first device of claim 6, wherein, if the second devicetransmits the audio stream through broadcast, the at least one devicecorresponds to the third device, and wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to receive from the second device an advertising messagecontaining audio source information after the opening of a control path,wherein, in the transmitting of a control message to the at least onedevice, the first device transmits the control message to the thirddevice upon receiving the advertising message, and the control messageis generated based on the audio source information contained in theadvertising message.
 8. The first device of claim 7, wherein the audiosource information comprises at least one among the audio stream'sidentification information, language information, synchronizationinformation, transport information, and codec information.
 9. The firstdevice of claim 7, wherein the establishing of a Bluetooth LE connectioncomprises establishing a Bluetooth LE connection with the second deviceand the third device, the opening of a control path comprises opening acontrol path for the second device and the third device, and thetransmitting of a control message to the at least one message comprises:transmitting to the second device a first control message associatedwith the transmission of the audio stream; and transmitting to the thirddevice a second control message associated with the reception of theaudio stream, wherein the second control message is generated based on aresponse message received from the second device as a response to thefirst control message.
 10. The first device of claim 9, wherein thesecond control message contains audio stream identification foridentifying the audio stream transmitted by the second device.